ville5 wrote:WTF??!? That was Bennett's assist not Koons. I want my PAP pts.

It's funny. I said outloud (to no one) when Kennedy had it, "come on, TK, I had to be the only one that picked you in Pick-a-Pen, I need this!" and then he unleashes a brain bell jangler to the roof on Bryzgalov. If anyone was asleep in my place, they aren't any more...

DelPen wrote:Don't even care about the streak. Great defensive game. Gave these ******* nothing. And we get Malkn, Letang and Morrow back soon.

This team has changed it's style and effort dramatically. Amazing how much better the goalies look now too, eh?

Let's just say that this team also has confidence now that the goalies are making the saves they should and some that they shouldn't. Amazing how good the D looks when that happens, eh?

The TEAM defense is outstanding right now. Very few mistakes and when everyone commits you get wins.

I agree with Delpen - Snapshot argues that good defense play comes from goalies stopping a dump in - and the defense suddenly feeling confident enough to finally pay attention to their defensive responsibilities, I argue that the goalies look much better when the other team doesn't get 400 quality scoring chances.

I mean - either both Fluery and Vokoun all of a sudden had a change at the same exact time, or the team focused and tightened up their defense resulting in a streak of low scoring goals.

Henry Hank wrote:Eaton played 20+ minutes tonight. He's had a lot more to offer than anyone could have thought.

Except Shero?

That was a great effort to dive and keep the puck in at the end of regulation. If his shot went it, I think my head would have exploded.

I think Shero included. I doubt he was signed to be anything more than depth, maybe a bottom pairing guy if necessary. Just goes to show once again that you can't always trust a guy playing poorly in Long Island as evidence that he's got nothing left.

DelPen wrote:Don't even care about the streak. Great defensive game. Gave these ******* nothing. And we get Malkn, Letang and Morrow back soon.

This team has changed it's style and effort dramatically. Amazing how much better the goalies look now too, eh?

Let's just say that this team also has confidence now that the goalies are making the saves they should and some that they shouldn't. Amazing how good the D looks when that happens, eh?

The TEAM defense is outstanding right now. Very few mistakes and when everyone commits you get wins.

I agree with Delpen - Snapshot argues that good defense play comes from goalies stopping a dump in - and the defense suddenly feeling confident enough to finally pay attention to their defensive responsibilities, I argue that the goalies look much better when the other team doesn't get 400 quality scoring chances.

I mean - either both Fluery and Vokoun all of a sudden had a change at the same exact time, or the team focused and tightened up their defense resulting in a streak of low scoring goals.

No, I just mean that a team cannot go on this kind of streak allowing 1 GPG with goalies that were allowing 2 soft goals per game. You can argue chicken and egg all you want, but the goalies were allowing shots that should not have been goals end up in the net. You do that consistently and the team is going to scramble - and yes Vokoun bailed Fleury out in Philly and the team got better from that point on.

When you hear them saying that they just "made some minor tweaks", I guarantee you that meant to start doing the fundamentals of defensive coverage - meaning do your job not someone else's, including the goalie's.

Fleury - to his credit, stopped the leaks in his own game as of his next start as well.

Early in this streak the Pens offense bailed the goalies out, not the other way around. They have allowed over 30 shots in a number of the games where they have allowed only 1 goal, and there have been many quality chances in them. The goalies are making all the saves now.

The Montreal game was a terrible game by the goalie, not the team. The Flyer loss in Pittsburgh was an ECHL level performance by Vokoun. The Pens win in Philly was a terrible performance by Fleury. If you just go back and watch the goals in those games where everyone was freaking out about our D you'll see that they were shots that should have been stopped or big, fat, juicy rebounds - yielding two or more softies a game.

Agree to disagree, but both facets are rolling now.

Last edited by The Snapshot on Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Henry Hank wrote:Eaton played 20+ minutes tonight. He's had a lot more to offer than anyone could have thought.

I think he's a big part of why they are playing such good team defense-it's nice to have a guy back there who will keep it simple and play solid responsible hockey night in night out.

I actually thought Eaton was as bad tonight as I have seen him. He had the Bambi legs going tonight, and made a bunch of bad decisions with the puck. My fear about him when he was first signed is that he may be the most vulnerable D other than Engelland to a forecheck. Tonight did nothing to allay that fear.

Eaton is noticeably slower than the other guys, but he plays smart and minimizes that potential issue. I think having someone out there who is less gifted but plays smart hockey and to his strengths is rubbing off on the others.

I hope Coburn is paid a visit by Lady Karma. That shot to Dupuis at the end of the 3rd was BS. Not sure if Shanny will handle it since Dupuis came back on the ice.

Henry Hank wrote:Eaton played 20+ minutes tonight. He's had a lot more to offer than anyone could have thought.

I think he's a big part of why they are playing such good team defense-it's nice to have a guy back there who will keep it simple and play solid responsible hockey night in night out.

I actually thought Eaton was as bad tonight as I have seen him. He had the Bambi legs going tonight, and made a bunch of bad decisions with the puck. My fear about him when he was first signed is that he may be the most vulnerable D other than Engelland to a forecheck. Tonight did nothing to allay that fear.

Him and Martin weren't good tonight and the Pens still won. Can't complain too much I suppose.

DelPen wrote:Don't even care about the streak. Great defensive game. Gave these ******* nothing. And we get Malkn, Letang and Morrow back soon.

This team has changed it's style and effort dramatically. Amazing how much better the goalies look now too, eh?

Let's just say that this team also has confidence now that the goalies are making the saves they should and some that they shouldn't. Amazing how good the D looks when that happens, eh?

The TEAM defense is outstanding right now. Very few mistakes and when everyone commits you get wins.

I agree with Delpen - Snapshot argues that good defense play comes from goalies stopping a dump in - and the defense suddenly feeling confident enough to finally pay attention to their defensive responsibilities, I argue that the goalies look much better when the other team doesn't get 400 quality scoring chances.

I mean - either both Fluery and Vokoun all of a sudden had a change at the same exact time, or the team focused and tightened up their defense resulting in a streak of low scoring goals.

It's obvious the Pens are playing much more conservatively in the defensive and neutral zones. They skate the puck out more often, pass the puck back more often, and don't force the play if it's not there. As a result, they turn the puck over much less often and recover better when they do. They also ice the puck less often without as many stretch pass attempts. With fewer turnovers, they have been able to get their forecheck going.

They got away from that in the first period against NYI in the previous game and paid the price. I was relieved to see they went back to basics against the Flyers.

This isn't about goaltenders getting their act together or Vokoun's speech. The improved defense is the result of significant adjustments. DB deserves most of the credit for scrapping the parts of his system that weren't working and going back to the drawing board.

It's just great to have D anchoring the blue line that can actually keep the puck in the zone in a pinch. I have so many memories of early 2000's where the opponent would get possession below the hash marks and our D would be back-pedaling to the red line already.

Gonna be interesting to see how things shape up when B. MORROW arrives, and Letang/Malkin returning within the next few games here.

You cannot improve the GAG without goalies stopping .920%. You can "adjust" all you want. Shots happen, and in the early parts of the streak, the goalies were giving up soft goals every night. You want to blame that on the D or Bylsma, go ahead.

DocEmrick wrote:It's just great to have D anchoring the blue line that can actually keep the puck in the zone in a pinch. I have so many memories of early 2000's where the opponent would get possession below the hash marks and our D would be back-pedaling to the red line already.

Gonna be interesting to see how things shape up when B. MORROW arrives, and Letang/Malkin returning within the next few games here.

Yes I am psyched. The best defense is a good offense, and the Pens puck possession is back.